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Today we are mixing things up with a festive cocktail recipe + a cheese chat! I’m going to hand the first part of today’s newsletter over to Marco. He is the real mixologist and this cocktail is his creation. Should we call this segment Marco Mixing Stuff? Then I’ll pop back in for a quick little cheese chat to help you guys choose cheeses to set out for nibbling pre-turkey.
As far as hard alcohol goes, I’m really not the type of guy that likes a straight shot or a pour on the rocks. I’m just not into it. I need something else in there to give it more flavor. Simply put, I’m much more of a cocktail kind of guy. I specifically seek out bars and restaurants with great cocktail programs to go to. There are plenty of great cocktail programs in KC and all of them have their own unique take on classics and craft cocktails. The unfortunate part for me is that I have a ton of food allergies/sensitivities so a lot of the time, my options are limited on what I can get. I generally stick to brandy, cognac, and tequila but what get’s mixed with it generally makes my stomach upset. Over the last year, we’ve ventured into making cocktails at home. Marcella has found a love for the Negroni and I’ve found a love for experimenting, which led us to create La Moro. La Moro is a mezcal cocktail with equal parts blood orange and mezcal. It has a beautiful crimson color with a bite of tartness and a layer of smoke but is not too tart thanks to the addition of maple and a hint of bitters to add complexity. Enjoy La Moro, in a coupe glass, to help you cut through the richness of Thanksgiving dinner or your guests.
La Moro 🥃
Click here to download + print.
2 oz Mezcal
2 oz Blood orange juice
1 oz Lemon juice
1/2 oz Maple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Pour ingredients into a shaker
Add ice
Shake for 30 seconds to chill
Strain into a coupe glass
Let’s Talk About Cheese 🧀
Pre Marcella Cooking Stuff my main gig was running The Board Babe, where I created charcuterie, crudité, and fruit boards as well as teaching workshops. There are a lot of details that go into a show-stopping board but the most important part is the cheese. That’s your foundation, that’s what people come for, and that is what we are going to focus on today. Pretty flowers and accouterments aside, if your cheese isn’t great your board won’t be great either.
When shopping for cheese, start with a local cheese shop. If cheese is not your thing having a knowledgeable guide is essential. My local cheese shop here in KC is The Better Cheddar. If you are in LA, the OG cheeseboard company Lady & Larder has a cheese shop now selling American-made products. East coasters have Murray’s Cheese, which has now expanded across the country in grocery stores…tons of grocery stores. Also easily accessible is Whole Foods, which has a great selection and deals throughout the holiday season.
My biggest tip, for any type of board, is variety. This applies to the flavor, texture, color, type of dairy the cheese is made with, and the shape in which it will be on the board. You want every bite to be different and exciting. Not just for the palate but also for the eye.
General textures of cheese are soft, semi-soft, semi-hard, and hard. If you want to get more specific you can think of textures like creamy, crumbly, dense, grainy, smooth, and spreadable.
The most common types of dairy used for cheese making are cow, sheep, goat, and buffalo. They each have their own specific flavor notes and I welcome them all.
Shades of yellow, white, and orange are the most common colors for cheeses. If we get further into it blue cheese has speckles of blue from penicillin, ash might be added for deep grey veining, green herbs, or brown mustard seeds are commonly added. If the rind is edible, like on a soft cheese, it may also play into the color or appearance with deep wrinkles and texture.
Small soft cheeses come in beautiful round (sometimes triangle) shapes and I like to keep them in the form they come in. Large rounds are usually cut into triangle wedges. Hard and semi-hard cheeses are available to be shaped any way you like. Cubes, match sticks, triangles, and crumbles are the four shapes I use most.
Now for the flavor, I could write a multipage essay on the flavors of cheese. There is an infinite amount of different cheese flavor profiles out there. I encourage you to keep an open mind and try new cheeses often. I’m a sucker for a soft, creamy, and clean-tasting cows milk cheese any day but I can get down with something out of the box. If you see a label that says funky, ripe, pungent, grassy, tangy, nutty, etc. give it a try! Those descriptive words can be used with a negative meaning but a lot of times it can mean the cheese you are about to eat is really damn good.
Now let's get real specific. Here is a list of my go-to cheeses. These are the cheeses I grab over and over again. They are organized by the type of dairy they are made with to give you a starting place.
Goat
Midnight Moon Gouda Cheese from Cypress Grove *Marco’s favorite
Sheep
Blue Roquefort Papillon from Fromageries Papillon *Basically sheep milk blue cheese, pungent!
Aux Arches from Green Dirt Farm *Sheep and cows milk blend
Ruby from Green Dirt Farm *Sheep and cows milk blend
Cow
Mt. Tam from Cowgirl Creamery *My forever favorite
Le Marechal from Emmi *Raw milk cheese with delicious tang
Mimolette from Isigny Ste Mere *The outside texture is from cheese mites!
Bay Blue from Point Reyes Farmstead *This is the blue I suggest for people that don’t like blue cheese. Very mild.
If you enjoyed today’s special appearance from Marco, a cocktail recipe, and our cheese chat…let me know! Maybe we can do some more of these things in the future. Happy Thanksgiving! Eat and drink your heart out.
See you next week, M.
More Marco!!!
Will DEFINITELY be making La Moro!!